Dr Brett Says: Fat and cholesterol are not the evils they have been made out to be. Free range, grass fed, organic meats are a very healthy part of a balanced diet. Grain fed, processed chemical laden meats are not. Simple as that!

From abc news

Eating processed meats like hot dogs, bacon and deli meat could increase your risk for heart disease and diabetes compared to eating unprocessed red meats like beef and lamb, according to a new study.

Study finds that processed meats increase health risks more than other red meat.

But many experts were not convinced that the findings tipped the scale in favor of red meat.

The study published today in Circulation looked at 20 studies involving more than 1 million participants from 10 different countries. Researchers found that eating as little as 2 ounces of processed meat per day -- a few strips of bacon, a hot dog or smoked sausage -- increased the risk of heart disease by 42 percent and the risk of diabetes by 19 percent.

However, the culmination of studies examined found eating unprocessed red meat like steak, burgers and roasts did not seem to carry the same risks.

The study suggested that the increased risk of heart disease and diabetes with processed meat may be related to the higher salt and preservatives that are normally found in processed meats.

While research found that both red meat and processed meats contained similar amounts of saturated fat and cholesterol -- both a contributing factor for heart disease and stroke -- processed meats had on average four times higher levels of salt and other preservatives, according to lead author of the study Renata Micha, research fellow in the department of epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health.

On average a 50 gram serving of red meat contains about 127 mg of sodium, while the same serving amount of processed meat contains about 575 mg of sodium, according to data based on a 2005-2006 United States National Health and Nutrition Examination survey.